Luciano De Crescenzo

Luciano De Crescenzo is an Italian writer, film actor, director and engineer.
Born in Naples, he graduated in engineering and worked for IBM Italy until 1976, when he published the bestseller CosÃ¬ parlÃ² Bellavista, a collection of facts and anecdotes about his city which sold 600,000 copies in Italy and was translated into numerous languages. In 1980 he debuted as actor in Il pap'occhio, under the direction of his friend Renzo Arbore, together with Roberto Benigni.
In 1984 he directed the successful movie adaptation of CosÃ¬ parlÃ² Bellavista, followed by Il mistero di Bellavista in 1985. In 1995 he wrote and directed Croce e delizia, featuring Teo Teocoli and Isabella Rossellini.
In the meantime he published a long series of books, including novels and popularizations of philosophy. For his work in the field of Greek philosophy he received honorary citizenship of Athens in 1994.